By: Larissa D.
The New York Times reported on Wednesday that David Coleman, President of the College Board, has announced radical changes to the SAT set to begin in 2016. According to the article, Coleman explained that the college admissions exam has become “out of touch” with what current high school students are actually learning and is therefore no longer an accurate means of measuring a student’s readiness for college. This change may also be due in part to the fact that in recent years, the SAT has “lost ground” to the rival ACT, with 1.8 million students opting to take the ACT last year in comparison to the 1.7 million who took the SAT. Among the numerous changes to the exam, the math section will cover fewer topics (with greater emphasis on linear equations), the vocabulary terms will focus on words more commonly used in college courses, the essay will become optional, and students will no longer be penalized for guessing incorrectly.
Many of these changes seem to be taking steps in the right direction. From what I remember of my own experience in taking the SAT as a junior in high school, I left the exam room feeling far less confident in my abilities than I had when I had entered. Many of the questions had left me baffled, and my self-esteem diminished with every passing minute. I can still recall talking with a close friend later that day and telling her that I was sure I had somehow “lost brain cells” during the test. Needless to say, I was sure that I had done a terrible job on the exam. Once I received my scores, I found that they were not as terrible as I had imagined and, to my delight, they did not hinder my acceptance to my first choice of the colleges that I had applied to.
However, a part of me always wondered if my test scores accurately reflected my intellectual strengths. In retrospect, I suppose that they most likely did, especially if, as Mr. Coleman said, the SAT had become out of touch with what students were learning. At the time I took the exam, it would be fair to say that most students, myself included, had not been afforded the opportunity to learn what the SAT expected us to know. I can recall several instances in which my high school classes came to a standstill because students needed to be re-educated on materials they should have learned in elementary and middle school. In fact, in my Sophomore Honors English class, the teacher had to wipe out a week’s worth of lesson plans in order to go over grammar lessons, because she had grown tired of honors students turning in essays that she could hardly decipher due to errors. Math classes were no better, as there were often students there who could not do basic arithmetic without using a calculator or counting on their fingers. I would say that the people who developed the SAT did not take these facts into consideration when creating the test that year. If they had, most students would have done far better.
For the most part, I am in agreement with the changes that are being made to the exam, especially the stipulation that students no longer be penalized for incorrect answers. From my own experience, most college professors tend to appreciate the efforts of students who at least try to answer a question on a quiz or an exam, even if they are not correct. In fact, some professors will give partial credit for an answer that was close but not quite right. I have never once seen a teacher at any grade level take points away from a student that guessed incorrectly. Instead, test scores are based on the “rights-only scoring” method that the new SAT will employ. In addition, narrowing the scope of the math portion will most likely increase a student’s chances of success, as they will be able to devote more time to studying a few key areas, rather than attempting to cover several areas in the same amount of time. The fact that the essay will now focus on analyzing an author’s argument is another improvement, as this will demonstrate not only a student’s abilities in composition, but will also be an indicator of how well that student can comprehend what he or she reads.
With that said, I am opposed to one major change to the SAT. I honestly believe that the essay should remain a required element of the exam. While I understand that the College Board believes that the essay does not benefit the student when it comes to gaining admission to an institution, as several do not factor in the writing portion of the exam when determining a student’s entrance to their college or university, writing is still an important skill for a student to have in college. Many students do not realize that even if their major does not require them to take several English classes, they will still be required to do quite a bit of writing. The research paper appears to be a universal assignment across all areas of study, and students with poor writing skills will not do well. While reading and math skills are definitely important, writing should not be set aside, as it is a skill that is utilized outside the classroom on a daily basis. Both the College Board and Admissions Offices in colleges and universities across the country should take a student’s writing abilities into consideration when determining college readiness.
While critics of the exam have pointed out that high school grades are a better predictor of college success, the SAT should not be eliminated just yet. Just like the Stanford 9 and other standardized tests, the SAT establishes a baseline measurement of knowledge and understanding for all the students in the country and allows colleges to see how a particular student ranks among his or her peers, in addition to how the student ranks in relation to the scores that the college deems “desirable.” Comparing a student’s score against a “minimum for consideration” is not wrong. Each student should be able to demonstrate a basic level of knowledge and understanding before moving on, just as those wishing to move toward career goals should take the LSAT, MCAT, and Praxis exams to demonstrate their abilities. However, college admissions representatives need to understand that there is always a margin for error, as some students do not perform well on standardized tests despite their possession of the knowledge and their ability to do well in their classes. Instead, the SAT should be just one piece of the overall puzzle, which should also include transcripts, any awards received for academic excellence, an overview of extracurricular activities, an admissions essay, and samples of student work. Careful consideration of all these pieces individually and of how they relate to each other as a whole will create the best method of determining student success.
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